USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > History of the city of Evansville and Vanderburg County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 30
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Referring to the first school, it was built on the site of the present County Orphan Asylum. The logs were not even hewn and there was no floor save mother earth. The benches of course, were like all others of
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that early day-what were termed puncheon benches. These were made by driving four posts into a slab of wood and on this rough surface there were no backs at all, but poor little youngsters were compelled to sit on them. Such a thing as a desk was an unknown quantity. There was not even a place in which to keep the books and every child was expected to take its .books home at the close of the school and bring them back the next day. . In this rough log house the walls were not even chinked but there was an enormous fire place which kept it fairly warm and it must be remembered that in those days school was taught only in the winter, for in the summer each little one was expected to do his or her share of work at the home. The first teacher was a man named Thomas Trueman, who built his school house in 1819. He had been a sailor during the war of the Revolution and was rather an old man when he came here. He was also quite an odd char- acter. No one knew whether he was a bachelor or a widower. He seemed to have no friends or relatives, and never received any letters. He taught school during the winter, while in the summer he fished and hunted, living in a little leanto cabin that he had built for himself in the country. He died in German township and his last request was that his body be cre- mated in the log cabin. Among the simple German farmers who lived there, this was taken as an evidence of a mild insanity, yet they carried out his wishes. In 1824 George Thompson also taught a school in Perry township. This was located on the farm of Wash. Stinchfield. Many men who stand high in the history of Vanderburg County have since officiated as school trustees.
Armstrong township was the next one to build a school in 1836. This stood where now stands the house of Mr. LeRoy Calvert. Like the other, it was built of untrimmed logs but it was slightly more pretentious, having actually a puncheon floor and clapboard roof. It also had a window. This was made by cutting out one log and fastening across it, a sheet of greased paper to admit light. It also went further along co-educational lines, but had its own ideas, as there were two large stick-and-mud fire places, one at each end, one being for the boys and the other for the girls. Any party caught at the wrong fire place got speedy punishment. One naturally won- ders how tuition was paid in those days, when money was almost an un- known thing. The teacher, whoever he might be, took the same pay as all the store keepers. That is he took furs, or wheat, corn or bacon and traded or sold what he did not use himself, to produce buyers. Scott town- ship had its first school house in 1835 on the old Staser farm. In Center township William Morgan taught in 1830. This school house was prob- ably the most primitive of all. It was a little log cabin on what is now known as the Hopkins farm. One of the scholars states that the boys all wore buckskin breeches and the girls buckskin aprons. A man named Trueman succeeded Mr. Morgan and he was the "Daddy Knight" of that period, it would seem. He was an inveterate eater of hickory nuts and employed most of his time between recitations in cracking them on these
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puncheon benches with a bench leg which he would slip out of place and then put back when he was through. These teachers in Center township certainly did their duty, as some of the best families in Evansville of today, owe their ancestry to that part of the county. Up to this time there had been a small tuition, but Center township stared the first free school that ever existed in Vanderburg County. On the slope of Locust Hill Cemetery . there stood until lately, a small brick house, almost hidden by trees and vines. In this a man named Kilbock opened a free school to any who wished to attend, and kept it open three or four months in the year. Naturally he had some other means of resource, so while not teaching he traveled through the country mending clocks. In German township the first school was a mere hut with only one log left out to admit light, no paper being used to close it. In Evansville proper the pioneer teacher was Geo. Thompson, who taught in a small log cabin at First and Vine streets. Then William Price taught school in the old Baptist church near Mulberry and First. This building will be remembered by a great many citizens. It was the old log building that for so many years, stood in the rear of the yard of William Dean. Many years ago people looked on this old building with a sort of reverence, it being really one of the most prominent land marks connected with the history of this city and it is safe to say that very few thought that Mr. Dean would ever remove it. But he did so, although it did not show signs of decay. It seems to the writer that if Mr. Dean had wished it out of the way, the city should have purchased it and have taken it apart as has been done with thousands of other old buildings in various cities and placed it somewhere where it would remain until finally destroyed by the hands of Father Time. Those of us who understand how long those old buildings could stand the hand of time, could safely predict that our great-grandchildren would probably see it. It was in 1821 that the people of Evansville felt sufficiently wealthy to build an actual brick school house. They did so and employed Daniel Chute as teacher at a salary of $300 per year. It was built on the old court house square near the corner of 3rd and Main. It had a large fire place at each end and they were so huge that more light came through them than from the two small windows in the front of the building. Mr. Chute was a graduate of Dartmouth col- lege and a fine scholar. For twenty years he taught the youth of Evans- ville. He was a very pious man and had his own ideas about conducting a school. He opened with prayer, remaining standing with his own eyes open and a long fishing pole in his hand and if he caught a scholar in mis- chief during the prayer, he would call out "woe unto you John" and strike him smartly across the back with the long pole, after which he would take up the prayer where he left off. He also taught girls, in the old part of the school. One of the first teachers to come here from the East was Miss Filura French who began in 1832. She soon married Mr. John Shanklin and was the mother of John Gilbert Shanklin, Geo. W. Shanklin and Mrs. John Harlan, whose great intellect was well known to every one in this
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community. There have been quite a number of private schools in Evans- ville. Miss Julian Barnes opened one in 1838. Afterwards the Misses Martin, sisters of Vice President Martin, the Draper misses, who taught in the old building at the corner of 3d and Chestnut. Mr. Stafford, Mr. Greene, Miss Dean, Miss Abbot, Mr. Thompson and Miss Connington also taught. These were all private schools and gradually disappeared after the inauguration of the public school. Two of the most beloved women who ever lived here, were Miss Hooker and Miss Hough, who taught a private school for a time. Miss Hough had formerly been assistant in the public schools, but gave up her position to join her sister Miss Hooker in conducting this select school for girls only. Many of the matrons of to- day, the most shining lights in society, gained their first instructions from these two most estimable women. It must be remembered that in the early days of school teaching in this section, there was no standard of education by which a teacher could be judged. In fact, the trustees to whom they would go for a position would be themselves uneducated men. The standard in those days seemed to be the arithmetic and any one who could reach the rule of three, was proficient and if he could reach the double rule of three, he was considered an educated man. This rule of three meant that one must be able to multiply, divide and subtract three figures and of course the double rule meant six figures. In some cases where boys were bound out to farmers, and the farmer agreed to educate them, the contract called for an education as far as the rule of three and this appears on some of the old records. Naturally when there were so few books, where pens and pencils were unknown and blotting paper was unheard of, we wonder how our ancestors got along. The blackboard was used everywhere. A primitive board stained with poke berry juice or the liquid of boiled oak leaves and on this the teacher demonstrated with something as near the chalk of the present day as could be had. A steel pen was almost un- known. Some of the very wealthy men of the east may have had them, but in this country even the teacher used a quill pen made from a goose feather and the children the same. The scarcity of the same goose at first caused them to use the feathers of the wild goose which were almost iden- tical. Every teacher was supposed to be an expert pen-maker and kept a very sharp knife for that purpose and one of the teacher's duties at the close of the day was to take the pens of his little band of scholars and trim them ready for the next day. As feathers were plentiful, the cost of the pens was nothing; and now for the blotting. The ink that they used was generally kept in a horn and from this fact arose that old term, "a, horn of ink," which has not been seen in years, and yet formerly was a common quotation. The teacher kept a large supply in a cow's horn at his desk if he had one, or hanging on the wall near where he sat and from this he supplied the little ink bottles made from the tops of the horns of cattle, that were used by the scholars. The common ink was made from poke berries but another ink a little more expensive but better, was made
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by boiling oak bark and sumach berries to which a little copperas was added. There was no recitation by classes, as there were not enough books to go around and each scholar recited his lesson separately. Nat- urally the crude attempts of the young pupils in penmanship consisted of more blots than letters and as there was no blotting paper, sand was used in its stead. This was a case not only in the schools, but in many of the stores, mills, etc. In fact, there are many of us now living here in Evansville who can remember when a business man kept a little box with a hole perforated like a pepper box of today, in which he kept his sand. As soon as his letter was finished, he sanded it, poured the surplus sand back into the box and the letter was ready. Another old habit even after the days of steel pens, was to stick the pens into a little box of fine shot and still later along, an Irish potato was used and a large one could be seen on the desk of any store in Evansville, with pens of all kinds sticking in it.
Just at the present I will drop the matter of schools and come back to my own experience. It is unfortunate that in writing a book of this kind, that the author is at times compelled to say more or less about himself. But if he lacked these actual experiences, how could he be in a position to give an absolutely correct statement of early details. When I arrived in Evansville, there were exactly three schools. One was in the Neptune En- gine building where Charles Smith's barber shop is now, across from the late Masonic Hall. Another was in the building of the Engine Young America, which stood on the west corner of the Custom house square. The other was at the corner of Franklin street, and Fulton Avenue, where the beautiful park now exists. At that time I lived across from the Cus- tom house in the two-story brick next to the Vickery building. By some means, I was sent for a time, to the Neptune house building, which was shortly after given up. The engine, a hand engine of course, was kept down stairs and a very narrow stairway lead to an upper room. In this were a few benches and small desks. The ropes by which the alarm bell was rung went through a closed place in the school room and I well re- member that on the opening day of school, there was a fire alarm and the awful rattling of these ropes against the planks made every child rush to the street thinking that the building was on fire. Soon I was shifted to the Young America Engine house, which was just across from my home. On the corner was an old marble yard. Where the Custom house stands, was a row of small cottages and in two of them lived Aunt Sallie Gover and Mrs. Greene, two of the first colored people who ever lived in Evans- ville. My troubles began the first day I went to school. I had just come from a little town in Connecticut, where I had been sent after my mother's death, where children were supposed to wear shoes and also collars at times, so I went to school with my shoes and a large turn-down collar. I got along very well until recess, after which I had no collar and the shoes had changed from black into a kind of russet. On this first eventful day some
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CAMPBELL STREET SCHOOL
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boy dubbed me "Yankee" which was soon changed to "Dandy" because I still had to wear a collar and that name stuck to me for many a long year. To this day I sometimes meet an old time citizen who calls me "Dandy" and shakes hands and we go back to those old days. Possibly a little ex- planation is due here. In the early days of Evansville, hardly a boy or girl ever wore any shoes in summer, except on Sunday, when they were sup- posed to be dressed for church. The boys of my age wore what we called hickory shirts and long pants as knickerbockers were then unknown. Dur- ing the winter most of the boys had coats, but in summer, a boy's ward- robe consisted of a shirt, a pair of pants, and an old straw hat, and for him to wear anything else was to stamp him as being too conceited to move along with the common horde and therefore a person to be licked on sight. Whatever agility I have in my old age is probably due to the exercise I got in running away from crowds of boys who would spy me with these collars and shoes on.
It was shortly before the war that the citizens saw the necessity of having a large public school which pupils from all parts of the city could attend. What was then known as the Canal street house and now as the Mulberry street school was then built. That is, the middle building, that now stands on the lot. J. W. Knight for many long years known as Daddy Knight, was in charge virtually of the entire building, though he taught what is known as the grammar school. Mr. Knight was indeed a character. Long ago he passed to his reward, as have many of the old pupils that he taught. But I can remember when the one great wish of the growing boy in Evansville was that he would soon be big enough to lick Daddy Knight. , To accomplish that object seemed to be the one great point for which he was living. And the reason for this is easy to give. Mr. Knight seemed to have been brought up on the old code, "spare the rod and spoil the child" and if there was ever any child spoiled through his forgetfulness of this code, I don't remember who it could have been. I will say this, however, that stern as his measures were, he was a great educator. He was the most strict disciplinarian who ever taught here and his methods of giving punishment as varied as the sands of the sea. For instance if a boy missed a word in reading and then said that he did not see it, Mr. Knight would immediately yank him out of his seat and very forcibly rub his eyes so he could see better next time. If a disturbance began along a row of seats and he was unable to trace the offender, he never wasted any time, but began at the first seat and thrashed the occupants of the whole row with no partiality. He claimed by this means he always got the right one. He had a playful way of poking pupils in the ribs with his ruler. Some- times he lifted them out of their seats by their collars and sometimes by the hair. His one idea was to get them out of their seats. He, to the best of my recollection, used a ruler or the end of a hickory stick for other portions of the anatomy and as a reserve and one that struck fear to the heart of the pupil, was the raw hide. He only used this on rare occa-
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sions, however. Just a little incident. Sometimes he would wander from his duties and tell stories to the students and woe be to the one who did not listen attentively. One bright morning his little girl came over and whispered into his ear and then went out. Mr. Knight then arose and said he would have to excuse himself as he had to hive a swarm of bees. He then went on to give a short history of the bee, and how easily they could be handled, provided the man knew how. He said he had hived bees all of his life, and one way to collect them nicely, was to go sprinkle them with a little water and transfer them from one hive to another with- out the least particle of danger. He then left. In about an hour he came back and with one gasp the entire school saw that the worthy pro- fessor had made a mistake in his connection. His face was covered with flour or some other stuff to allay inflammation, while out of the very swol- len surface there could be seen two tiny spots which were supposed to be his eyes. He said nothing further about bees and strange to say, there was not a solitary laugh in the entire school. If there had been, I am certain that the reserve raw hide would have been brought out. At first the boys and girls were taught together in the Canal street school house, but after- wards the girls were removed to another part of the building and co- education was never attempted again in the city, until the first High School was established. This was in a building first used as a church and now occupied by a whisky house at the corner of Second and Clark streets. Here it was that I graduated. There were only three in the graduating class. Prior to this time we had teachers of great ability at the Canal school house. Mr. S. T. Leavitt, Mr. C. P. Parsons, who married the sister of the late Mrs. James L. Orr, and Col. Charles H. Butterfield. who served many positions in this city in future years.
The great head center of the school system of Evansville today lies in the head office building near the high school at the corner of Seventh and Vine streets. The high school building itself is supposed to be one of the most handsome school buildings in the city. But the pioneer school, the one which first marked the decision of the people of Evansville that it should eventually become a great school town, is the old Canal street school or what is now known as the Mulberry street school, which was spoken of in the beginning of this article. When first built it consisted of one large double brick building. It was surmounted by a tower and it stood in the center of a great yard. In the tower was a bell which was rung regularly to call the children to school, and it also tapped the closing hours of work. As stated, the boys were on one side and the girls on the other and, until prior to the starting of the high school in the old Baptist church at the corner of Clark and Second, the advanced scholars were all taught in the upper room on the right hand side where Hon. Charles S. Butterfield was teacher, assisted in French and some of the other higher branches by Miss Hough, who afterwards taught a private school and who was a superbly educated Eastern woman. At various times during the reign of the old
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school attempts were made to teach German. There were various German teachers employed but, as a rule, they were not sucessful in the early day. As it is now, the teaching of German I am told is a part of the regular school work, and while it is optional with a scholar whether or not he or she takes German lessons, it still shows that the determination to intro- duced German into the public schools has never been given up. No one respects Germans more than the writer, and among the old German set- tlers and with the great majority of their descendants he has a most pleasant acquaintance, but years ago he said in his own papers that the teach- ing of a foreign language like German in public schools in America was wrong and gave as a reason that if any one went to Germany and tried to introduce the English language into the German schools, the Emperor would rise in horror and almost demand the hanging of the individual who would even suggest such a thing. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. It is well enough to understand German, but we are not Germans and Americans now, we are all Americans and the American language should be the one language taught in the public schools. Of course, some may say, "Why teach Greek, Latin and French?" They are taught, it is true, but they are taken up as side branches and as such can be taken or let alone, but in past years there was a very fixed determination on the part of the many Germans to force the language into the schools whether or not the people liked it. On just the same principle, exactly, and I challenge any one to deny it, if thousands of Italians or Russians came and located in Evansville they would have exactly the same right to at- tempt to force their language on to American pupils. At one time opinion was very much divided in this matter in Evansville, but everything was smoothed away and I am glad to know that the study of German is op- tional with pupils.
But to return to those early day German teachers. The Germans, as a rule, did not send their boys and girls to school. They kept them at home and made them work and therefore the German teachers found themselves confronted by American boys and girls who cared nothing whatever for the German language but were full of mischief. Hence it was that the life of nearly every German teacher who came here in the '50s and '6os was a regular burden.
Attempts were made at various times to beautify the great yard around the old Canal building, but again those mischievous boys frustrated all attempts to beautify. They would swing on the horizontal bar and play their various games, especially marbles, tops, etc., but trees set out served only as convenient corners for the good old game of "Bull pen," which was. played by having one boy in the center at whom any one of the boys at the four corners could throw. If he was hit by the ball and caught it, he had the right to take the place of the boy who threw it and the latter in turn went to the center where he got paid back with interest for every hard ball that he had thrown. There is many a staid old business man of today
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who can almost place his hands on different spots of his body where those old balls used to hit him. The schoolhouse soon became too small for the rapidly growing number of pupils and another building was put up by the side of the old school building and then still another until at one time there were five good-looking school buildings on the square. But the one nearest Third street was torn down and the central building was so changed in appearance that those who attended it in the olden day would hardly rec- ognize it. This collection of school buildings is the largest in the city. A beautiful street of brick formerly ran in front of it and the yard extended east, but now there is only a small alley in what was once the front of the buildings tnd the entrance is from the rear on Mulberry street.
One of the most handsome buildings is the Carpenter school building, which has also been put up for many years. The ground was purchased from the Willard Carpenter estate and while it does not follow any partic- ular style of architecture, it is a beautiful and massive building with a large arched entrance. One trouble with all of the school buildings now in Evansville is that they were built before the people began to realize that there are styles in architecture as well as in anything else. It is only in the last two or three years that even those who built handsome dwellings have realized this fact, and thus it is that no school now standing in the city has any particular style of architecture. They are simply a compila- tion of various different designs, the point being to make the building solid and substantial, as well ventilated as possible, and then to finish the out- side after any style which best suited the ideas of the architect. Vast strides have been made in ventilation. I can remember that in the old Canal building absolutely the only ventilator was a square wooden box which ran up from the lower floor to the roof. In the front of this box was a hole almost like the boys make for their pigeonhouse holes and it was not very much larger. In the winter a redhot stove was kept going and as the wind struck the building from every side, absolutely the only ventila- tion for a room full of scholars and the only passage for the foul, vitiated air, which they took again and again into their lungs, was through this one small hole. How on earth they stood it no one knows, except that when these hearty youngsters of the old time got out they were more or less in the open air until bedtime. The Carpenter school building has a hand- some yard in front and is very near the central part of the city. It is at all times full.
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